I bought a Super Off Peak day travelcard from Woking ticket office yesterday and the staff said that I could not use it to come back before 6:30pm. This seems surprising for a weekend.

I then played with the ticket machine to find out more and it seems that this restriction only applies from Waterloo or Clapham or Vauxhall.

To get round this could I have boarded at Waterloo eg at 5pm on a train stopping at Surbiton, get off and on the same train there, and would be able to honestly tell the Woking barrier people that I had boarded at Surbiton? Or is this fraud.

This reminds me of when FCC introduced the evening peak and applied it to Travelcards (or tried to). The trick would be to alight and reboard outside the restricted area, as long as that was within the TC zones. On the GN route this could be Oakleigh Park or something.

I think they tried to make conditions to get around this but I have no idea how successful they were, or how many people weren't allowed through (manual) barrier checks back then.

I recall even now you get warned (GTR) you may get a penalty fare when they can only excess you.

It's unclear whether you can alight from a train and re-board the same one.

But, for sure, boarding a train you were not on previously, ie. getting a train a few minutes ahead and waiting for the next one, is legit.--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnkleBoots

To get round this could I have boarded at Waterloo eg at 5pm on a train stopping at Surbiton, get off and on the same train there, and would be able to honestly tell the Woking barrier people that I had boarded at Surbiton? Or is this fraud.

That's perfectly valid.

__________________Down with Breitbart, Trump and all others who promote misogynist, xenophobic and racist material!

Last edited by yorkie; 9th January 2017 at 01:19.
Reason: Double post prevention system

They can of course withdraw these Super Off-Peak fares to "simply" things.

Seriously I doubt anyone would care. The current restrictions prevent the use of the faster trains at busier times which is what they were seeking I would suspect. If you are willing to get a slower suburban train by boarding at Wimbledon then fair play.

If you want full flexibility then there is of course an appropriate product for it, with "Anytime" in the name.

To get round this could I have boarded at Waterloo eg at 5pm on a train stopping at Surbiton, get off and on the same train there, and would be able to honestly tell the Woking barrier people that I had boarded at Surbiton? Or is this fraud.

You could get off at any station between Waterloo and Woking and do the hat dance on every platform before re-boarding. It doesn't change the fact that you boarded the train at Waterloo.

You'd be better off buying a ticket that doesn't have time restrictions that affect you.

Be careful what you wish for! Pricing managers read this forum intently. This post could be interpreted as a request to abolish these fares. If too many people appear to want them abolished, they might well end up being removed.

You have to make the best of the system that you can if you want to save money. Some restrictions are daft, and it's easy to get around them, but if the cheaper fares did not exist, we'd all pay more.

__________________Down with Breitbart, Trump and all others who promote misogynist, xenophobic and racist material!

You could get off at any station between Waterloo and Woking and do the hat dance on every platform before re-boarding. It doesn't change the fact that you boarded the train at Waterloo.

It does mean I can truthfully say that I boarded the train at Surbiton though.--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Quote:

Originally Posted by yorkie

Be careful what you wish for! Pricing managers read this forum intently. This post could be interpreted as a request to abolish these fares. If too many people appear to want them abolished, they might well end up being removed.

The ticket costs little more than a Z1-6 Travelcard, so definitely good value (so thanks to any Pricing Managers reading)! Am going to read more of this forum to find more "sweet spots".

Last edited by AnkleBoots; 10th January 2017 at 20:42.
Reason: Double post prevention system

They can of course withdraw these Super Off-Peak fares to "simply" things.

Seriously I doubt anyone would care. The current restrictions prevent the use of the faster trains at busier times which is what they were seeking I would suspect. If you are willing to get a slower suburban train by boarding at Wimbledon then fair play.

If you want full flexibility then there is of course an appropriate product for it, with "Anytime" in the name.

How much less busy are the Basingstoke and Alton trains? This stop at Surbiton twice an hour for each destination but only once an hour at Clapham Junction for each destination. For the other train it skips Clapham Junction but not Surbiton.

Of course they would be within their rights to include Surbiton in the restrictions stations list.

Nowhere near as busy as the longer distance ones I believe, helped by off-peak capacity typically being 8 cars compared to 5 for the latter.

I don't think you can overtake if travelling to Woking once you get to Surbiton, as the gap in front of the faster trains are too big to catch up with the stopper before one would have got off but I may be wrong.